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Turkish GP: Friday Press Conference

NEWS STORY
24/08/2007

Question for all four of you: we saw a lot of drivers going off the circuit today with minimal penalty; is that something we're going to see in the race, is it something that you approve of? It's interesting to see mistakes relatively unpenalised?
Ralf Schumacher: What do you mean by penalised? It's happening more and more in Formula One because of safety. You have a tarmac run-off and that's why you come back onto the track, which I think makes sense anyway, doesn't it? It has happened here in previous races, yes, so I guess it will happen again. Turkey is a very slippery circuit and especially off-line it's very difficult and that's why a lot of drivers - we obviously try to push - we try to be as fast as we can do that. You can't always be one hundred percent within the line and that's when it happens.

Alex Wurz: Ralf is right. We discussed this at length in the GPDA with Charlie (Whiting) and it's the compromise you have to make, but we all want safer race tracks and high safety standards. That's why we have the asphalt run-off areas and that's the simple reason why we are not penalised coming back on it and you don't lose too much time. And I'm sure you would agree with me that you prefer safer race tracks and us being around a bit longer than in some early days.

Frank Williams: Well, the first thing I want to say is that you are clearly an FIA man because you hadn't started before you mentioned the word penalty! I think my view is a bit different. I think Formula One needs to make race tracks more like this for one reason: they actually promote - unlike other tracks - overtaking. The other side of that is that if a driver does make a mistake, it costs them five seconds and a bit of dignity but he's back in the race. The antithesis of what I'm saying is the corner at the end of that fabulous straight at Barcelona, which, in my opinion, is screwed up by a very fast – too fast – chicane, and gravel and sand traps everywhere. If you get in there you're finished. Every year someone's off there and the race is over for him. I can't speak for a driver, but I get the impression the track is very safe. They take risks but that's fun, it jumbles up the order. It's what Bernie wants, isn't it? We're all here for TV. It's a show, Flavio says and I think in the main he's right.

John Howett: I don't think I have anything more to add. If you lose five seconds, you've probably lost a couple of places, that's a big enough penalty.

A question for drivers and perhaps team owners as well: have you run both specification of tyres here, are you quite happy, are they going to last the race, especially with excessive heat here?
RS: This year's situation, as we are all in the same situation for the first time we are here, both tyres seem to be in a workable window, although the track temperatures are very extreme, so that shouldn't be an issue at all.

AW: You're never happy but I'm sure the tyres will last, both sets of tyres. The soft one – there are not any problems like we had in Canada where we had super high graining on the soft tyre. That's definitely OK here but there are still differences in the tyres, so it still gives you a little bit of a challenge for the race: which tyre to use at the start and the other stints you're doing.

John, can you just clarify the situation with the contracts with your drivers?
JH: I guess it's no secret, really. Jarno has a contract and we're in discussion with Ralf and we're studying the driver market and Ralf is still definitely on our list. He's doing a very good job at the moment, as we've seen in the last two or three races and we're just not prepared at this moment to make a decision which is very tough and I have a great deal of personal sympathy with Ralf but that's the position. We're waiting to see what moves and I can assure you that Ralf is on our list. We feel that we can wait longer.

This Grand Prix is the 100th for Toyota...
JH: It's the 100th Grand Prix, I believe, yes. The reason we're not really pushing it (is because) the fiftieth year of Toyota in motor sport I think was last week and therefore that's the predominant issue and I would say that within that total chapter Formula One is one small part, but yes, we're happy it's our hundredth Grand Prix and we're still pushing for the elusive win in the future.

Ralf, obviously a good result in Hungary, and here you started fifteenth last year and raced to seventh. A good time today; how are you feeling about this race?
RS: Well, last year, I qualified fifth but I had an engine change, that's why I started fifteenth. The track, for both last year's and this year's cars seems to be alright. It's only Friday, you don't know how it's going to look tomorrow but our aim is to have both cars in the top ten and from there to score some points which we desperately need if you look at our championship points' situation at the moment, and that's what we're fighting for. I think in the last few races we have really picked up pace. If anything, I was a bit unlucky in Hungary not to score a few more points and that's why I hope we can achieve it here.

So you really feel that you are top six regularly?
RS: At the moment for the last few races, yes, we have momentum. There was a clear trend after America. We have had a few issues, my mistake in America and other technical reasons why we did not finish but the team is working really hard and the car is improving and we are finding our way with the tyres and things are looking good.

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